Proverbs 14:26-27 Fear of The Lord

The fear of the Lord is not a cowering in the corner fear, waiting for something horrible to jump out at you. It is an awe inspiring respect. It brings life.

I wouldn’t even need my bible helps to know that these two proverbs go together, but I turned there first anyway. These two proverbs stand as a sure reminder of the awe inspiring majesty of our God. Let us see where His Spirit guides us as we look at them.

Each person who has come to the Lord and asked Him to rule in their lives has done so because he/she saw where they were headed without Him and it SCARED him/her. We were all headed towards death. We were actually spiritually dead. We saw the life He offered us and we reached out and grabbed it with both hands.

In accepting that gift we had to recognize that HE holds ALL the power. He has power over life and death; OUR lives. We recognized that He is God and we are not. And we are nothing without Him. We begin to “fear” Him; offer awe inspiring respect. That respect saves our lives. Without it we wouldn’t turn to Him in the first place.

As we grow in our relationship with Him our “fear”/respect grows too. We begin to prove out His love by coming to Him with our concerns. At first we have a child’s view of Him. He is our Savior and that is good enough for us. But that is not all there is to this awe inspiring God whom we reverently fear.

We begin to learn who He really is. I think the first thing we learn of Him is that He is our safety. Not only does He secure our future after death but we learn we can run to Him in times of trouble. Next we learn that He provides for us. We come to Him with our needs. He is our provider; Jehovah Jireh. He heals us; Jehovah Rapha. He is our peace at all times, including times of trouble; Jehovah Shalom. He put His name upon my life and I identify as His; Jehovah Nissi. He is my Shepherd who leads and guides my life as I grow closer to Him; Jehovah Raah. He has made my heart His home and is always with me; Jehovah Shammah. And because I have given Him my life He has made me righteous through His name; Jehovah Tsidkenu. He is Lord Most High; El Eyon. The Lord who was, is, and always will be; Alpha and Omega. He is El-Shaddai, God ALMIGHTY! And He is my Father; Abba Father.

This is the God I “fear”, whom I bow my face to the ground and worship. The God I can trust with my whole being. He knew me before I was even born. The God I cannot live without.

Father God, THANK YOU for giving me life. I want to bow down right NOW and worship You for You are WORTHY! I can never thank You enough for ALL that You are to me and to my life. I am undone without You. NOTHING I desire compares to You!!!

Thank You for directing me to the study of Your name by BFA. I’m looking forward to digging even deeper. To knowing You more intimately.